Hey Gang! Long time no see. Camping season is right around the corner here in NC and I'm no closer to completing my Teardrop build than I was six months ago
. I'll try to post an update on my build journal soon, but I'll have to dig the trailer out of the mess first!
The wife is talking about buying a camper of some sort to use until I get ours built, so here we are in the market. I was talking to one of my neighbors a few weeks back, and it somehow came up that he had an old Teardrop tucked in the corner of his garage... and he'd be willing to sell it. Fast forward to today, and I was finally able to go check it out and take some pictures. I thought I would share it here and get a feel for what you guys and gals think about it, and if it's worth jumping on. I'm not going to list his price on here, I thought it would be neat to see what kind of "appraisal" y'all would give it first. I will say, it is comparable to a lot of listings of teardrops on Craigslist here. He is flexible, his words were "I'm not going to give it away, but I'm not trying to put my grandkids through college with it either".
I'll get right to the exciting part first (pictures!) then I'll share what I know about it.
Street side:
Driver's side:
Galley:
Interior:
Chassis:
Roof:
Some of the uglier spots:
For the details: Mr. Neighbor said it is a 1969 model, titled in California (hence the CA plate). He has the title, but never had it put in his name. It's supposedly still titled to the original owner. He said the title said Apache on it somewhere. I know Apache was an old pop-up company, so I don't know if this is related to that company or not. Mr. Neighbor was thinking it's a home built that they just named... I don't know, and I haven't seen the title myself. I did not see any hint of badging, numbering, etc.
For dimensions, the shell is 4'6" wide, 8' long and 4' tall. The sleeping area is about 4'3" by 6'1".
In the galley, there's not much storage space, but it is only an 8 footer. There's a pass through into the cabin, and a tiny sink. The few lights it has (or had) are wired for 12v only, but there is a shore power hook-up for a few recepticles (not sure if they are original).
Overall this thing seems really solid, especially considering it's 48 years old. It's not a show piece, but overall it looks generally well taken care of.
Mr. Neighbor says it had a custom canvas cover for it originally, but it just came down to the lower wood trim. When it rained, that trim collected water. Over time that rotted out the trim on the bottom edge, which needs replaced.
For the past 15 years or so that Mr. Neighbor has owned it, it has been garage kept... Except for a one month period when he had to clear the garage. During that time it "monsooned" and he didn't know until after the fact that the cover was leaking on the street side (see stain in pics) and led to some checking on the wall. After that the cover went in the trash and the trailer went back in the garage.
There are other places that you can tell have gotten wet over the years, such as the inside of the galley lid. The galley lid is just a piano hinge with no rubber or anything to seal it. You can tell by the pictures that at one time it had duct tape over the hinge for makeshift waterproofing.
The is no roof vent. The side window slides, the door window is fixed. The galley lid is propped up by two sticks. Five lug 14" wheels with real tires.
Keep in mind, we're looking for something that is at least close to bring usable... Something I can make campable by camping season. As it sits, I wouldn't hesitate to take camping right now with a decent weekend forecast and an easy up tent over the galley. We're used to tent camping, so this is a slight step up, and I think it would meet our basic needs for maybe a couple years.
Im not a huge woody fan (not my first choice for my own design) but I don't mind it. Worst case I can put aluminum siding on it. I like the vintage aspect, and if I were to buy it I think I would try and keep it as original as I could.
So, it comes down to price really. How much would you appraise it at? If you think it matters I'm in Western North Carolina.
Thanks, Brooks
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